Hundred
by Strata's Stargazer
Summary: She dreamt of being covered in blood. He dreamed in different shades of blue. They took comfort in each other’s arms, yet never spoke the words that so strongly bound them together. ZxK, post series. - Wherever You May Be- Sneak Peek posted 10-28.
1. Arc I

Avatar the Last Airbender: Hundred

A/N: This was originally written to be a one-shot, but I decided to break it into Arcs just to make it easier to read and hopefully get reviews. There should be four or five Arcs by the end of the story. Drama/Romance, so be aware its not a "happy" story.

Also, attentive readers will notice that names aren't used. I can't explain why I wrote the story this way, but it does work out with the ending (which has already been written).

Rated M for future content and adult themes.

* * *

Arc I

_ The how I can't recall  
But I'm staring at what once was the wall  
_

The Frey: Hundred

* * *

She dreamt of being covered in blood.

The heavy liquid covered her hands, her arms, slowly turning her blue tunic purple then black as it continued to fall from the body in front of her. It flowed around her to the beat of a heart; rising and falling in a failing staccato. She tried to control the blood, to move it away from the body she knew needed healing, but whenever she tried words from the past filled her mind, destroying her control on the blood.

_Bloodbender._

_Life stealer._

She wanted to scream, to silence the voice. She was trying to save a life, not take it.

By then the blood had become a pool and she began to worry. This person, this person she just knew had to live – she wasn't sure why, something vaguely came to her about balance – would drown in their own blood if she couldn't heal them. The wound was bad, the skin black and crisp like a fish left to cook too long over a hot fire. As she felt her power finally flow out of her hands she looked down to scream. She was using the blood to heal, but the wound only blossomed under her treatment until the pale chest was one large wound.

By then the blood had reached her mouth, an impossible feat but as the blood entered her mouth she could taste its metallic bite as she was forced to swallow to breathe, to live. Even as she struggled to survive she continued to force her powers on the body, a panicked desperation taking over.

It didn't work and as she inhaled the blood into her body the heartbeat that had controlled it suddenly fell silent. The sudden loss of sound - she couldn't even hear her own screams anymore - was almost as terrifying as drowning in a lake of red liquid.

She woke with a name on her lips and the feeling of blood on her hands.

* * *

During the years it took to truly end the hundred year war a rumor started around the Fire Nation that their young lord was haunted. It started with the Palace Guards a year after the fall of the Phoenix King, when they would patrol the winding palace halls and see flashes of red and white in the shadows and disappearing around corners.

They could never catch the apparition and for the longest time there was no evidence of their passing. Stories would be passed in bars about the sightings and they figured it was the Fire Lord's sister, who even in death would torment her older brother.

Months after the ghost first appeared, servants started to notice oddities occurring around the Fire Lord. There would be trays of food left in his office and bedroom that no one could remember him ordering or taking to him. He would ask about doors and windows he swore had been open when he fell asleep, but closed when he woke up. Even the Fire Lord's closest companion could not offer any information, besides commenting that the strange happenings were breaking up the monotony of trying to fix a broken and shattered nation.

Many of the Fire Lord's ministers and generals were disconcerted with the appearance of the ghost. Two years after the world war ended civil war threatened to break out in the Fire Nation, led by soldiers and civilians who claimed to have lost more from the war ending in pride and profits than those who had gained back fathers, sons, and relatives.

The map in the war room changed from that of the world to that of the Fire Nation and its colonies in the Earth Nation, showing that indeed change did occur. What would bother these generals, the men who had survived under both Azulon and Ozai's cruelty, were the messages appearing on their map in blood and knives made of white bone buried to their hilts in the wooden base. They had all been cautious at first, as would have anyone, but when the Fire Lord sent scouts to the areas marked on the maps they found the information to be correct without fault.

The Fire Sages were brought in as the messages continued to arrive without fail. They talked to the servants who mentioned the figure dressed in red who appeared for only seconds at a time, the odd appearance of food and blankets for their weary leader, and the continued entrance into the War Room despite the fact that the doors were locked when the meetings were not in session. They spent month at the palace to figure it out until one day the Fire Lord became ill, an infection of the lungs a palace physician claimed.

The next morning the guards posted at the palace entrance were horrified to see the body of the physician and a Fire Sage pinned to the massive doors with swords from the military armory. Their faces had been covered with black soot, except for their foreheads where 'traitor' was written in blood. The Fire Lord himself came to see the spectacle before ordering an investigation, not surprised when he was told his drinks had been poisoned in an attempt to kill him. Yet, only hours after falling ill he was cured, though he could not recall being treated.

When he left the protection of his palace to join his soldiers the fight against the turncoats killing his citizens – the first Fire Lord to do so in over two hundred years historians and citizens boasted – whatever haunted the Fire Lord followed. Even citizens found themselves catching sight of the spirit as the army made their way through towns and villages. It would be a flash of red from the corner of their eyes, on the roof top or in the forests where the battles were waged.

By then the rumors had changed. It was his poor deceased mother, some said, watching over the son she had been forced to abandon as a child and would fiercely protect from the afterlife. Others claimed it was Avatar Roku, the great grandfather of their Fire Lord, there to guide him on his journey.

The Red Spirit – as it had been taken to being called to the private mirth of the Fire Lord – was active in their campaign. Men would be found at the break of dawn bound and gagged, faces covered in soot and the markings 'traitor', 'spy', 'assassin' on their heads done in blood. Many times they would be muttering words like demon and monster to themselves. A few of the more coherent, if they could be called that, claimed it had been Death itself who had found them whispering vicious threats about what awaited them in the afterlife, awful images that had grown men scared.

The Red Spirit ended up not just protecting the Fire Lord, but his men as well. Those sent on scouting missions would come back with stories about skirmishes where more men ended up dead than they recalled killing. Some were found away from the scene of the fight, hanging from trees by ropes made of vines and plants or leaning against trees, unseeing eyes staring in horror in front of them. All of them would have been in positions where they could have inflicted the most damage if they had not been stopped.

Once an entire fleet of Yu Yan archers were with their talented arrows piercing their necks and pinning them to the trees.

After one of the largest battles on the main island, the soldiers whispered at night that the Red Spirit had saved the Fire Lord from certain death. Even the generals silently agreed with them, most having been with the Fire Lord when the event occurred. Despite his want to join his soldiers, the Fire Lord usually remained to the rear of the fights unless a change in the tide of the battle occurred. It had been as such when suddenly the kimono-rhino he had been riding started to buck and threw him off as he had been twisted around, shouting orders to the generals and officers around him and was therefore unprepared for the uncontrollable animal.

Seconds after he had been tossed to the ground, earning two broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder, a bolt of lightning had struck the poor animal, killing it instantly. The saddle had been mangled in the attack and the Fire Lord would have surely died had he been sitting there. The attack had been silent and well placed so the attacker was able to avoid detection and therefore prevent the Fire Lord from being able to protect himself.

After the fight had ended in their victory, a thorough inspection of the dead animal took place. It was then that they noticed the quill on the animal's flank and the poison on the tip that had caused the animal to buck, saving the Fire Lord's life. That night a body appeared out of nowhere, their face this time painted red with blood and 'coward' on their forehead. The soldiers had cheered for the spirit and even the generals had privately toasted the achievement.

* * *

He was slowly going crazy he decided to himself as he silently chased a flash of blue through the empty palace halls. He was constantly seeing blue amongst the red and black of his nation, never enough to catch a good sight of what it was, but always seeing it. It wasn't that he never saw blue: the colors of the four nations filled his capital, so every time he went out he could see flags and clothing in blue.

Those sightings he could deal with. It was those sudden, unexpected flashes that had him doubting his sanity. He would be talking with his companion and see a flash of blue on a neck of a person passing by, both male and female. He would turn and find their necks bare and the subtly curious gazes of his guards on him. Or he would see blue eyes and blink and they would turn gray or green or brown, but never blue again.

It had become worse when he started seeing it in the palace, the one place where all he should have seen was red, the color of life. Yet he would be in the War Room discussing the appearance of another bone knife in what was slowly becoming a destroyed map of the Fire Nation and see a flash of pale blue in the shadows. He would be sitting in his office reading over documents to try and control the breaking peace in his country and would see a figure in blue standing in front of him from the corner of his eye, but when he looked up he just saw dust moats in the air.

He also dreamed in blue. It was rather disconcerting to dream in only one color and he wondered idly if this is what dogs felt like when they saw things. The skies, the sun, even the skin of people were varying shades of blue. They bled when he had nightmares and as he watched his father, his sister, and his people slowly die from loosing that odd blue blood he wished they would bleed red.

Most of the time he dreamt of the ocean, of being surrounded by nothing but two flat blue surfaces, the water blending into the sky. It was this dream he feared the most, because even if he ran or stopped moving it never felt like he actually went anywhere, never gained, never lost. For someone like him who had always been forced to move forward, to never stay still it truly was a nightmare.

He recalled once waking up from such a dream to find himself in complete darkness and covered in sweat. Needing to see light, see something besides _blue_ he had called a single flame to his hand only to scream as a blue flame appeared rather than the soft orange he had desperately wanted to see. It had been a joy when he had caught the bed on fire in his panic, the orange glow produced by the burning fabric enough to sooth his mind long enough to douse the fire as the guards broke into his room.

He tried once to broach the topic with the person closest to him only to be reminded sharply that they didn't care if he saw colors or not. It was followed by a comment that maybe he was joining his family in terms of being crazy and should probably prepare himself a room with white walls. He hadn't brought it up again and once he left to fight in the war that had finally shattered his country did the sightings stop.

But he still dreamed in blue and started keeping a candle lit at night so when he opened his eyes he could see and watch the glorious _red_ blood slowly trickle down his arm.

sSs

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender is property of Nickelodeon and its creators. I just play in their world.


	2. Arc II

Avatar the Last Airbender: Hundred

A/N: I noticed that each segment is reading like a drabble, which I abhor, so I do apologize to the readers that wish for longer segments. Sadly, that isn't how this story is set up so it seems the mini-segments (no longer to be referred to as drabbles) will continue. It looks like there will be four Arcs total for this story, if I broke it up any more the Arcs would be even shorter and I wanted them to be a decent reading length.

I also realized that any smart person could tell the pairing so I posted it.

Enjoy!

* * *

Arc II

_And who's to say it's wrong  
And who's to say that it's not right  
Where we should be for now_

The Frey: Hundred

* * *

Three years after the start of the civil war he returned to the capital to bury the man who had been the closest he had ever had to a father. The Dragon of the West had died at the age of 69, rather young when the two previous generations of their family had led long lives. Yet after he had reclaimed Ba Sing Se with the secret society once again in hiding the life he had been holding onto for so long finally left him. There was one last letter written to the nephew who had replaced his lost son, praising him for his accomplishments and not to be sad at his passing for he was ready to join his son and wife in the spirit world where he could drink tea and play Pai Sho for eternity.

The funeral was large; the Palace gates open to let everyone who wanted to pay their respects to be there. The friends the Dragon had made in his journeys were all present, dressed as warriors to show their respect to the man who had been able to teach all of them something. Long after the civilians wandered away with wet faces and shallow breaths, a rather large contingent of people continued to stand and watch the fire burn until it finally died down, leaving nothing behind of one of the greatest firebending masters but ashes.

The Fire Sages who had conducted the funeral knew their orders well. They would gather the ashes and separate them into small vials to be carried around the world by those the Dragon had held most dear. It would be their decision where to spread the ashes, where they themselves would scatter that part of him that had touched their souls. It was an uncommon request - most ashes were left to sit in jars in a chamber with nothing but a plaque to say who that person had been. Yet everyone agreed this was the best idea, that it made sense he would want this.

After all, why sit in a room when you could cover the whole world?

* * *

It was dark when they finally meet seven years after the sightings began. He is neither frightened nor scared by the presence, but he is surprised at who he finds behind the person that was slowly becoming a legend in his nation.

"You?"

"Yes." No explanation, just a statement that seemed oddly fitting.

"Why?" He had to ask.

"You're blood is on my hands. Until I repay you, I will continue." Had their conviction always been this strong? He wasn't sure - it had been too long since they last talked.

"You've saved my life countless times, is that not enough?"

"Not yet."

"When?"

"I don't know."

He pauses, staring at the moving shadow in his office before leaning forward.

"What if I order you to leave?"

"I'm here to protect your life."

"My country is my life." It was true, without his country he feared he would die.

"I know."

"If you protect that, you'll be protecting me." He wanted this new war to stop. Stop one, start another is not how history should run.

"I have protected your country."

"My men thank you, I thank you." Images of scared men with their faces covered in soot return to him, as well as the faces of soldiers that probably would not be alive today if they had not interfered.

"I'm not asking for a thank you."

"No, you're not."

…

"Will you serve me?"

"My life is yours."

* * *

She has become nearly blind in her right eye.

The wound didn't bother her, nor does the fact that she walks with a limp from having her left kneecap nearly shattered. Bone doesn't heal easily and one that is fractured in several places from a rogue piece of shrapnel almost not at all. She is thankful though, because she can walk and still run, even if it is not for a long time. Then again, she had stopped hiding years ago and had stopped running long before that.

She covers her eye these days. The embers that had destroyed her sight made the eye sensitive to light as it lost the ability to adjust and threw off her aim while fighting. It took her months and her men a few serious injuries before she returned to proper form, but she would not let such a wound stop her. If a blind girl can become the greatest earthbender to live, only being able to see with one eye is no excuse for her. It is her knee that is her weakness, but her men are loyal and she learns not to get close to her enemies to avoid providing them a way to win.

She was ranked as a general a year ago, the first from another nation to ever gain a military rank in the Fire Nation. Part of it was from her actions as the Red Spirit, the countless times she had saved the Fire Lord and the men he holds so dear to his heart. Not many knew she had been the spirit those lonely years and she was grateful. Her men knew, so when she would disappear for a few weeks and return with more rumors of people appearing with words written in blood and faces covered in soot they would follow the orders left to them. It was getting harder to do, though, and she feared she was becoming old which made her laugh bitterly into her drink in her room those nights she wanted her privacy.

She was heading for the capital to report on her newest mission. She had found how the rebels were still able to get supplies to fuel their efforts despite the war that had carried on for almost ten years now. The prisoners in the hull of the ship would be hanged for their offenses and she had no regret for bringing them to their demise. She had been killing too long now to feel any regret for these people who refused the peace offered them. She tried to remember when she first lost that innocent part of her and realized it had been too long.

It was odd: she could have sworn she told herself never to forget that day.

* * *

She hates the capital so she is never there for long. The longest time had been when she was recovering from her leg injury and had been bed-ridden for almost six months. The smoke from the factories down at the port had filled her lungs with dirty air and made her one good eye constantly tear to fight the grime. Finally, when she could no longer take it she had tried to escape the infirmary and make her way back to the ship. It had been hard, she didn't have a proper crutch and the pull of gravity on her healing knee was enough to make her head swim.

He had found her holding onto a statue for dear life while balanced on one shaking leg. When he had approached to return her to the infirmary, she had hissed a threat about knowing how to castrate a man sixteen different ways and just because she was there to protect his life meant she couldn't hurt him. That had stopped him for only a second before he had laughed, filling the empty hallway with the noise. The suddenness of it made her grip slack and she had collapsed, screaming as she landed on her bad knee and the pain nearly knocking her unconscious.

"Is that not enough to repay your debt?" he asked and she hated the pity in his tone as he slowly returned her to her good foot.

"No." She still dreamt of blood, of the drowning sensation that always woke her up.

After that one night she never had to kneel before him upon greeting and was given room to sit with her leg stretched out when she was forced to attend the war meetings. Her actions never had to be explained, for actions spoke louder than words.

This time there is a rather disturbing joy in being in the capital when the smugglers are put on trial. She attends the trial, she has to as she was the one to capture them and feels some part of vengeance cleansed from her soul when the pirates are ordered to be hung for their offenses by the Fire Lord. She won't be there to watch; she has seen enough people die and be killed, its' nothing she ever gets true pleasure in. She confides this in him when they share a brief drink in his office before she ships out again that night and he tells her the same.

"They tried to kill me once," he tells her, smiling coldly at the wall in front of him. "It's payback for me as well to order their death. That ass-whole of an Admiral ordered it."

"He was lacking in the balls to do it himself." They both get a laugh out of it before she stands slowly and leaves him in the office without saying a word of farewell.

They never do.

* * *

The Avatar had long forsaken them, only intervening when the war threatens to escape their small lands and enter the rest of the world. Even as an adult he believes that lives should not be taken and hates what they had been forced to do to try and gain peace. They don't mention him anymore on those few times when they are together as old friends, but they talk about the others. While they had been living in war the rest had lived peacefully elsewhere, continuing on the lives that they had earned.

She had five nieces and nephews and is a secret godmother to four others, she tells him one night as they sit in her stateroom sharing drinks. She is helping transport food, armor, and weapons to one of the small eastern islands and to join the men having troubles protecting the villages being slaughtered because of their loyalty to him. He is joining her because he has spent too long hiding in his palace again and secretly misses the thrill of fighting rather than simply ordering it.

He is honorary secret uncle to two earthbenders and three young acrobats traveling the Earth Nation, he tells her. Neither talks about their lack of children and the lack of someone to call their own anymore. He had long since lost the one he had thought he would marry; she had left one night four years into the civil war and had sent him a letter a year later saying she was living a boring life in Ba Sing Se and was expecting her first child in three months. She had lost the one who said he had loved her after she had first returned to his lands, for he was unable to understand the reason for her actions and had married a girl with gapped teeth and horsehair she says laughing, the pain long gone from her eyes.

They find solace in each other, when their armor is removed and all that is between them are their scarred and damaged bodies that show all they had gone through. She lovingly caresses the scar on his chest and he brushes light kisses on her damaged eye and over her shattered knee. No words are ever exchanged for they understand they are still at war and promises whispered during secret embraces are not meant to be kept. They always wake up in separate beds to their own nightmares for it wouldn't be good for speculation to start onboard her own ship, even if her men understand the concept of discretion.

On land, walking among men who call out in greeting, ignoring rank and protocol they are nothing more than master and servant.

sSs

Ending Note: I am looking for someone to be a beta reader for the longer story I am working on (I'm new to the beta-reader system and a new author so sadly I'm lost at sea). Check out my profile for a summary on the story, _Wherever You May Be_, which is another Zuko x Katara story six years after the end of the series. I'm thinking of posting a preview at the end of this story as well so look for that.

Please review if you have the time!

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and its creator. I just play in their world.


	3. Arc III

Avatar the Last Airbender: Hundred

A/N: I realize I had blocked anonymous reviews from being posted and I'm sorry if any of you attempted to do so, but the problem (if it was a problem) has been fixed.

Be grateful for boredom, otherwise I wouldn't have posted this until tomorrow. Not like it makes that big of a difference, but hey, it's here now!

Sad part of the story this time...not everyone makes it out of war without loosing something precious to them.

* * *

Arc III

_So this is where you are, and this is where I am  
So this is where you are, and this is where I've been  
Somewhere between unsure and a hundred_

The Frey: Hundred

* * *

"How long has it been?"

"Fourteen years."

"How much longer?"

"I don't know. Come, the meeting's starting."

* * *

He finds her curled up near the boiler, sobbing as she wraps her arms around her stomach. She is nearly choking on her ragged breaths, only broken by the screams she lets out that echo throughout the ship. He has dismissed her men: they are agitated by her screams and are unable to provide her the comfort she needs then. She doesn't see him as first; he approaches from her blind side until his shadow finally falls over her.

Seeing him she lunges at him, painful blows hitting his shoulders, his wrapped ribs, and broken collarbone. Yet he doesn't stop her until she finally collapses against him, her hands fisted in his shirt as she lets out another anguished scream. Wrapping his arms around her he could only beg for forgiveness, understanding her reasons for her actions.

_I'm sorry._

He repeats it like a mantra until she finally passes out in his arms. It had been foolish for her to be moving, she had only regained conscious from the wound a few hours ago. He had nearly killed the physician attending her once he learned what had happened, settling on ordering the man be thrown overboard into the vast ocean miles away from land. He returns her to her room and spends the night by her side, there to comfort her when she awakes and starts to cry again.

When she is awake and not crying she shies from his touch, even in private. There is something missing in her eyes that had always been, the hope for normality once this awful war would finally end. Now even that is taken from her and he can only say one thing.

_I'm sorry._

* * *

She escapes, hating to see the emotion in his eyes when he looks at her. The wound still bugs her, after two weeks it is still healing and it hurts to walk for a long time. She pushes the pain away, tries to hide it in her duty that she still has not given up on yet, only letting the agony come to her in the darkness of the night when she can hide her face in her pillow and pretend the tears falling is just sweat.

Her men are suddenly cautious around her until one day she spars with them and knocks half of them off the ship and into the sea. For them it is a sign that she has returned to normal and it is a relief. She truly is a legend now, the un-defeated Serpent of the North, her days of the Red Spirit long past. As the Serpent she is being written into the history books, though she laughs at half the things they say of her.

Still, at every innocent smile directed towards her she still feels the loss deep inside her, even as the months continue to pass.

She stays out at sea for nearly a year and rarely goes on land with her men when they dock. The battles had slowly drifted to the sea so they had little time for peace, but she doesn't complain. In battle she can forget everything but her silent oath to protect this country that had long ago become her homeland and the man that tries to rule it with compassion.

When she looses her ship in a skirmish she would have gone down with it had she not been dragged aboard a life-raft by her men, shuddering to think she would give up on life so easily just because a piece of metal sank to the bottom of the ocean. Nevertheless it had been her home for over eight years and had served her well and it was another loss to her.

It's him who finds them floating out of the ocean, ten little boats bound together for they had all promised long ago that this was their family and they would not be separated. They were drunk as well for the boats had been where they had stored extra gear and drink so when they had spotted the large battleship most believed it to be a mirage. The singing that had been started to keep their spirits up had those onboard staring at their small crew in amazement and amusement.

They were less than a mile away from the nearest island, but when asked why they had remained out on the ocean where they risked dehydration and starvation she told the Admiral on deck with a straight face they were taking a well deserved vacation. This Admiral was younger than her, having replaced the Admiral that had loyally served the nation's leader since his time of banishment, and had stared amazed at her, as if not believing who they were or who she was despite their reputation. She and her crew had returned to song until she had glanced up see eyes staring at her in anger and hurt. As a loyal servant she was forced to face the anger of ignoring the orders sent to her for a year, having acted under her own orders, but the hurt she avoided by hiding from him with her men.

When he finally confronts her about her running away she remains silent and passive. She can still see the pity in his eyes and hates that he can see she is still mourning her loss even a year later. When he forces her against a wall and kisses her she responds, both acting out of anger, frustration, and loneliness after a year of self-imposed isolation from each other. She silently cries because she hates how she had come to savor and thrive for his touches and runs when he pulls open her tunic and reaches for her.

She runs because suddenly she feels ashamed and unworthy.

* * *

He stalls giving her another ship, stalls because somewhere deep inside him she has slowly become more important to him than his country.

She no longer smiles around him, rarely spends any time with him and only then in an official capacity where they hide behind rank and orders. When he tries to get her alone she uses her duty as an escape and he fears he lost her again when he is told one morning by that stupid young Admiral that reminds him of another ass-whole Admiral that she has disappeared off the battleship. Yet that night she reappeared and he notices a glow has returned to her eyes as she sneaks to the barracks with her men.

When they finally make port in the capital three months after finding her and her men on their 'vacation' he is forced to tell her about the ship waiting for her. There is a brief moment of joy on her face before she nods and tries to leave his study but he stops her with a short order.

"If I order you to stay here –"

"I will not listen." Her voice has become cold, reminding him of the worlds of ice that bit just as harshly. "I do not need protection."

"I am not offering protection."

"No, you're not. You're ordering confinement." She pauses at the door and glances back at him. She opens her mouth and he realizes with horror she was about to say a parting word, that one action that always left a promise that they would see each other again. Even when she had run away she hadn't left a note.

Before she could form the words he is taking them from her mouth in a deep kiss, using his hurt and anger to cover his fear. She struggles only for a second before responding just as urgently as if to apologize for that unspeakable action she almost committed.

"You will come back to me."

_Be safe_, he begs silently within his order.

"Of course."

* * *

She returns to the capital less than a month after departing. The sea is no longer a comfort for her and the battles are slow to appear and fast to end. They had finally destroyed the rebel's navy, their last stand, and they were slowly breaking apart. All that was left now was to catch those who were running away and bring them in for trials.

It's too unsatisfactory she decides almost angrily, to have fought in a war for almost sixteen years just to have it just trickle to an end. Still, her men are excited, talking about starting families or returning home to the families they had left behind to protect and under her jealousy she is happy for them.

Her nightmares are getting worse and she worries about him constantly, part of the reason why they returned so soon. The blood in her nightmares is no longer red but black and horror coats her throats when she wakes up and several times she had to go throw up upon waking. The minute they dock she barks orders at her men and finds a ride to the palace. Many turn to stare, for her headdress had become recognizable and she was met with cheers that she doesn't acknowledge or want. He is waiting on the steps when she arrives and she bows, hidden tears in her eyes to see he is alive and healthy despite the fear that had formed in her throat.

Even though she has reports to share with the other generals she listens to his orders to follow, only hesitating once she sees their destination. She had only been to his personal garden twice before, once as a guest many long years ago and once as a spirit. Still, she follows him and removes her dragon shaped helmet to let the warm sun grace her cheeks. At his request she tells him her information and he replies similar reports are coming in everywhere and she hopes this mean the war would finally be at an end.

At the same time she is terrified for she does not know what she'll do if she no longer has battles to fight.

* * *

The aftermath of a war keeps them both busy, but they had gone through it before and were sure in their actions and purposes. She travels all over to help repair damaged villages and he sits on a throne surrounded by flames helping install policies that should prevent his land from ever facing a civil war again. The leaders of the rebels where put on trial and sentenced to death for their actions; in claiming to try and protect their land and rights they had killed innocents and to him that was unforgivable. She stood next to him, eyes withdrawn but unflinching as twenty people were killed by hanging and denied the proper burial of being burned, the ultimate disgrace to the people of the Fire Nation.

That night she seeks him out, pulling him from the dream of an unmoving blue ocean as she almost hastily checks for him for injuries, finally noticing the wound at his hip that had slowly been weakening him for months. He had received it shortly after her last deployment to sea, an assassin who had been successful in getting the poison into his body before being killed with a flash of lightning. He had ordered the physicians to secrecy about the severity of the wound and was lucky he was naturally pale otherwise the effects would have been more noticeable to those around him.

He reels as a blow lands on his face, knocking him onto the bed and leaving him too dizzy to brace as she uses his pearl dagger to reopen the wound. He yells at the pain and can hear his guards trying to get in but she had already barricaded the doors against them and the room was reinforced with metal so they could not burn their way inside.

The moon is full and as he fights the pain running through his body he sees her straddling his waist, her face illuminated by the light as she places glowing hands over the bleeding wound. Suddenly he feels his blood pause before it continues to flow, but his body is no longer under his control and he shudders at the feeling of being under someone's will. She is begging forgiveness but does not stop, crystalline tears falling down her cheeks to land on his chest and at her silent command he falls unconscious.

When he awakens it is well past midday and he can hear people banging on his door. He fights the feeling of being lightheaded and pushes himself upright to see her sleeping curled up in a corner, arms wrapped around her legs so she was as small as possible. He doesn't open the door but reassures the guards he is alive and surprising well. Glancing down he sees his hip is healed but another scar remains. Glancing at the bed he winces seeing it covered in black blood and realizes she had removed the poison in his body that would have killed him in less than a few months.

Turning back to her he finds the corner empty and the window open, red curtains flapping in the breeze.

sSs

Ending Notes: Sorry if the whole young Admiral, good Admiral, ass-whole Admiral titles got confusing. I tried to make it as clear as possible, but let me know if it still needs to be fixed!

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and its creator. I just play in their world.


	4. Arc IV

Avatar the Last Airbender: Hundred

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers! The general feel is that there are gaps and people missing in the story and I apologize, but I'm not going to try to fill them in. However, I will answer the few questions given to me.

In terms of following the story...essentially all 'she and her' perspectives are Katara and all 'he and his' perspectives are Zuko. No one else was used to tell the story, simply because there is no one else in the story from the original gang (which is why only a few of them were referenced vaguely).

Katara received her two major wounds (the eye and the limp) in separate battles during the war, as well as her latest wound. The battles themselves weren't talked about simply because they aren't important to the story (the civil war is over a decade and a half long, people don't usually remember every single battle they were in).

I don't know if this clears up anything if you re-read the story, but I tried!

Here is the last installment. Look in a few days for a sneak peak at my other story _Wherever You May Be_, which if all goes well may start to be posted around Christmas.

* * *

Arc IV

_It's hard I must confess  
I'm banking on the rest to clear away  
Cause we have spoken everything  
Everything short of I love you_

The Frey: Hundred

* * *

He finds her before she can escape, entering her room at the palace just as she is finished packing the last of her clothes. He does a quick sweep of the empty room and a pinched look crosses his face as anger sets in.

"You're just going to leave?"

"I have repaid my debt." It hurts to say those words, but when she had pulled that black, poisoned blood from his body with an art she had forsaken years ago she had known her bond to him was finally gone.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know." She thought briefly of finally visiting her family, meeting those she only knew by name. In the same thought she dismisses the idea, even if they were her blood they were no longer her family.

"You're running away." The accusation hurt, more-so because he was right.

"Yes."

"Just like then." The hurt look in his eyes returns and she has to break their odd stare to stare at the flooring beneath her.

"I never thought you a coward." The words bring up her anger and she turns to face him only to gasp to see he had moved without her noticing and was directly in front of her. Before she could answer his challenge he had yanked her bag from her hands and pinned her against the stone wall, mouth covering her hers as he devours her yet again. She relishes his calloused touch but moves away when he grabs her tunic and opens it. She holds it closed, feeling ashamed of that one mark despite the other scars gracing her body.

Something flashes in his eyes and when he lights the shirt on fire she has to remove it or risk getting burned. She is left in her pants and breast band and when he moves to light them she attacks him, angry at him for trying to force her and angry at the man who had hurt her. Yet he is the one available for punishment and she knows just where to hit, going for the still fresh wound on his side. He collapses to his knees with a grunt but doesn't stop, grabbing her black pants and ripping the waist so they too fall.

She is crying and leans against the wall, her bad knee throbbing in pain. The angry scar on her abdomen is red against her skin and she hates seeing it, not for vanity but because it reminds her she is no longer a female. She moves to cover it but is stopped when he pulls her to him and trails kissing along the raised skin. She shudders, not knowing if from horror or at finally feeling his lips on her body once again. He continued to lavish attention on the mark that single handedly destroyed her life until her knees are weak as she is gasping out words without putting thought to them.

Standing, he quickly removes that last remains of her clothing, dropping sweet kisses along her skin she had dreamed about since she had abandoned him. Under his attentions she no longer feels ashamed, her own calloused hands tracing along his warriors body in an uncontrollable fervor. When he finally enters hers he reminds her that even though she can no longer bring life into this world she could still be cherished, that her life is not meaningless.

* * *

He laughs when his advisors tell him 'no' after he announces his intention to marry her. He needs an heir they remind him and even if the Serpent is a war hero she is still barren from her injury. When one is foolish enough to mention taking a second wife he finds himself under the glare of the ruler of his land, one who is not unwilling to fight beside his men in battles, and asks for forgiveness for his hastily spoken words.

They wince when he asked about adopting a child to be heir and one advisor, younger and more tactful, says it would most likely throw the nation back into civil war after his death. There is truth in the words so he states what had been his attention since he called them to the throne room in the first place. They would go back to the ancient ways that had long ago been forgotten, placing the Fire Sages in charge of ruling the country.

More protests come from his advisors, for surely they would loose their positions to the Fire Sages. He proposes a compromise then, to prevent a single person from ruling the country. Half of the government would be headed by the civilians, elected by the people, and the other half would be ran by the Fire Sages. The two would hold each other in balance and work together to protect the peace. The men are still afraid of loosing their status so he gives in and agrees to let them hold onto their positions until they retire or die, for even if they are greedy they are honest about it. After that all positions would be filled in by the people's choices.

As the Fire Sages enter to draft the new constitution of the Fire Nation, one of the generals asks when the new government will go into effect. He smiles as he extinguishes the flames in front of him and removed the diadem from his hair, tossing it onto the table with a flick of his wrist.

As part of his marriage he is abdicating the throne and he'll be married in two days time.

* * *

Their wedding was private and held at twilight, when a pale moon was starting to rise into the sky and the sun was finishing its journey below the horizon. There are only four people present including themselves as they made their vows, the head Fire Sage and the Prime Minister, one to marry the couple and the other to be witness to the Fire Lord, the Dragon of the South, marry the Serpent of the North and for the ending of a monarchy that had lasted for thousands of years.

The vows are taken without titles, for it is not the titles who are being married, but rather two people who had been through much and wanted nothing more than to enjoy the remainders of their lives together.

As the sun finally dips below the horizon the ceremony comes to an end and they are free.

* * *

They live in the house at Ember Island with a servant to cook and clean, but are otherwise left alone. Both relish in the simplicity of their lives and there are no complaints between them. It is in their marriage bed that she first tells him of her nightmare of drowning in his blood and he tells her about his dreams in blue as they lie under the cotton sheets three days after leaving the capital following the ceremony. They share their childhood stories and several times she cries, deeply missing her brother after being separated from him for nearly nineteen years. He tells her he is scared to look into mirrors because half of his face belongs to the people who mindlessly killed and suppressed people for a hundred years.

They are casual as they move around the house, both getting use to not having to deal with politics or orders anymore. Even so they had both offered their services to the Fire Nation for life should there ever be need for them, for they had shed blood and sweat for this land and would always be willing to do so. In a chest in the attic lies her Serpent headdress and his dao blades, locked, for here on the beach they had no need for them and would hopefully never have to.

A month into their marriage he woke to find the bed empty and an old fear creeps up on him that everything had been a dream. Dressing in a pair of pants he searches the house to find it empty, but the front door is opened so he heads to the beach, knowing she enjoyed spending time there and watching the tides. As he finishes the decent he lets go of the breath he had been holding to see her standing in the water up to her waist, her eyes closed as the mists buff against her clothes and the water pulls at her. He freezes when she turns and smiles at him, the first genuine smile he can recall her having since before the battle that made her barren.

She hastily leaves the water and is laughing as she trips along the sand until she is suddenly in his arms, kissing him hard. He holds her to him, wondering why he let the war prevent him from having her when she had so long ago become his universe. She pulls back still smiling and it lights up her eyes the color that use to make him think his sanity was leaving him, even in her right eye which was now completely sightless but the same crystalline blue. Suddenly, she looks younger and he fells younger so he happily kisses her again, holding her tightly to him.

"Let's spar," she suggests and he is surprised but agrees anyways, anything to keep her smiling. On that beach they spar, exchanging fire and water for enjoyment rather than to kill until she finally calls a halt, still smiling as she sinks down onto the sand, her knee throbbing in pain.

He wants to ask about her strange mood but remains silent as he sits and pulls her between his legs so he can cradle her in his arms. He can never forget how much of a warrior she is, but he still takes pleasure when she sags against him, welcoming his possessive embrace.

"I love you." It comes out softly and he isn't sure she had said it until she repeats it again. It becomes a soft chant as she pushes him into the sand and trails kisses along his chest and arms, still paying attention to his oldest wound on his chest as she stares up at him through loose brown hair. This is the first time she had ever said it out loud, the first time either had spoken of the feeling binding them to each other besides that one time in her bedroom.

He repeats the words back to her and she smiled again before he is rendered senseless as she turns her words into actions. He stops her before she takes him too far and returns the favor and enjoys pushing her over the edge, savoring it as he hears her croon his name as she shatters under him. As he enters her there, not caring they were on a public beach and both of them were covered in the fine sand he nearly shatters when she clamps around him, his name falling like a prayer from her lips as she meets him. When he finally allows the release to take him he again only sees in shades of blue, but this time he doesn't care as he continues to meet her gaze knowing his whole world lies in it.

* * *

She dies less than two months after him.

When she finally passes on to follow him, she is not alone in the home where she had spent the past thirty years with him. The house is filled with the sound of children and laughing adults, the family that had become so precious to the two of them simply because of the fact that it even existed. Their only child is a miracle because she is alive when both had believed no life would blossom from their love of each other. They cherish their child and the man she marries, and the children that they are able to have to fill the empty rooms of the house around them.

It doesn't surprise her family that she followed him so closely. Their hearts and lives had become entwined so many years ago that one simply could not exist without the other. The love between them had never faded – the girl called Miracle by her parents can recall her mother laughing as she is kissed in front of the whole family before being dragged into the bedroom where her father would never wake up again, so she knows their souls are happily together in the Spirit World.

The woman once hailed as the Serpent was found by the changeling of the family, a young boy gifted with one gold and one blue eye. Even for how young he is, there is no sadness when he informs his mother. She had told him she was leaving, he explains calmly, after telling him a story about the war in what was his favorite pastime.

As she had done for her husband the funeral was small, only her family there to hear the words spoken by the Fire Sage before the pyre she is laid on is burnt. At some time the children leave, taken by their father back to the house leaving the woman whose father had once been Fire Lord and her mother his loyal general to watch the flames reach for the sky. She listens to the stories the Fire Sage tells her for they are heroes in the eyes of the country for their effort to bring peace to the islands. As the fire dies and the moon peaks in the night sky, she thanks the man for the entertaining stories and waits while he gathers the cooling ashes and places them in a red and blue urn.

As she makes the trip to the shrine set above the beach she is joined by her husband and is grateful for his presence once they arrive. The shrine is simple but elegant and she places the urn next to its twin before glancing at the blank marker above it. How fitting that even in this he would wait for her, she reflects before writing the two words she knew represented everything they had been to each other.

A man named Zuko and a woman named Katara.

_fin._

Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and its creators. I just play in their world.


	5. Wherever You May Be Sneak Peek

Avatar The Last Airbender: _Wherever You May Be (Sneak Peek)_

A/N: For all of you who read my story _Hundred_ here is a preview of the full length story I am currently working on. It should start to be posted in December (hopefully...I've seemed to have caught writers block temporarily and can't seem to move the story forward. I'm trying to get it out of my system though, promise!).

This is just a few segments pulled from the story so if some of them seem short, remember that they are only parts of any "scene" in the story. I also did them in the chronological order of the story, not when they appear in the story (the first two are actually 'flashbacks') to make the preview flow.

I am still looking for a beta reader for it too!

_Wherever You May Be_

_Sneak Peek_

_By: Strata's Stargazer  
_

"That is beautiful. I don't remember you wearing it last time," Meng commented removing her hand from the necklace and Katara nodded.

"It was missing when we last visited," Katara told her, her thoughts drifting towards Zuko because of it. She should try to visit him while she was so close to the Fire Nation, especially since she hadn't seen him after Sokka's and Suki's wedding.

"It will be returned to you," Meng suddenly said and Katara glanced to see her eyes were unfocused as she stared at the necklace. She smiled vaguely before her hand dropped and she nodded to herself before stepping back. "When it is returned to you your heart will know much joy."

"Meng?" Katara asked worried and Meng blinked before looking up at Katara, smiling.

"Yes?"

"Are…you okay?" she asked, wondering what had come over Meng. If she didn't know better she would say she had just been given a fortune.

…

Staring at the pile of bones Katara pulled one out from the bottom of the stack, making sure the rest didn't fall. Tossing it in the fire the two women were silent as the bone was heated then stared to fracture. Finally Aunt Wu retrieved the bone and let it cool before grabbing it.

"My, that is interesting," she murmured. "The man you will love is a rather curious figure my dear."

"How so?" Katara asked, curious. She hadn't come here expecting to learn about her love life, but she wasn't going to ignore whatever Aunt Wu had learned.

"There is something in your natures that both connect and repel you from each other," Aunt Wu explained. "Because of this there will be arguments – people who are alike and dislike each other rarely get along peacefully."

"So I'm going to love a person who I will want to argue with all the time?"

"Essentially, but do not fear. It will make your love stronger, rather than detract from it," Aunt Wu told her before turning back to look at the bone again. "He carries the past with him, but it makes him a better man. He is willing to give his life to protect yours, something you don't often see."

"Well, he sounds wonderful," Katara said with a smile. Aunt Wu nodded as she stared at the bone before looking at Katara.

"And before you ask," Aunt Wu said with a smile, "you will have mango for breakfast tomorrow."

sSs

"I need a favor," Katara said as she sat next to Zuko, smiling at him from where he stretched out on the ground next to her. "I'm heading to Omashu and Ba Sing Se, but I need help with something before hand."

"As long as it's not trying to figure out another one of Bumi's weird trading policies. The last one gave me a headache and took a month to decipher and then he completely voided it, on a whim," Zuko told her frowning and Katara shook her head as she smiled.

"No, nothing like that. I've been asked to join a group of the Earth Nation royals to travel around and talk with the villages about how everything has been going," she explained. "The only problem is that most of the area we'll be traveling is the northern desert."

"Hm mm," Zuko murmured as the sun slowly heated him up.

"So, not a lot of water is going to be available."

"Hm mm."

"And there have been reports of bandits attacking travelers."

"Hm mm."

"And we won't have a lot of soldiers traveling with us because it's a good will thing."

"Katara, you're a Master. Why are you worried about not having soldiers available?" Zuko asked and opened his eyes as the turtle ducks suddenly started quacking in a panicked manner. He paused seeing the entire pond essentially floating above him in the middle of the air, some of the lilies still drifting in the water. "Um, Katara?"

"Think hard, Zuko," Katara reminded him sweetly and Zuko glanced away from the water long enough to see her smiling sweetly at him, something that always caused him to break out in a cold sweat. Not because she was smiling, but because her eyes were narrow slits of ice glaring at him from heavily lashed eyes. She seemed to have perfected during the years since the Western Air Temple when he had first been treated to it he noticed dimly before returning to current dilemma.

"Desert travel? You're worried about not being able to bend if you get attacked," Zuko rushed out and sighed as Katara finally returned the water back into the empty hole in the ground. "Why not have Sokka teach you?"

Katara snorted and sent him a look to which Zuko shrugged. Sokka had become a master in his own right with the sword after the war, so it was surprising Katara wouldn't go to him.

"I did. Do you know what he told me?" Katara said then deepened her voice to do an impression of Sokka that had Zuko grinning. "'All you do Katara is _swing_ and hope to the Spirits you actually hit something. Also, I _highly_ recommend you keep a hold on it.'"

"He never was a good teacher," Zuko suddenly recalled, remembering the extremely brief time that Sokka had tried to show him how 'Boomerang' worked. It was along a similar line of Katara's actually.

"_You just throw it and it comes back right to you…Huh, wonder why it didn't work. Oh well, go get it Jerkbender!_..._It's not _that_ far down to the bottom of the cliffs!"_

sSs

It was easy to sneak out of his own palace, he realized as he quickly made his way through the palace. The hallways had been darkened for the night, giving him plenty of cover in the deep shadows as he made his way to the servant's quarters. He knew that he could simply walk around and no one would stop him, but he enjoyed the thrill of sneaking out and he didn't want to be seen dressed as he was.

Outside he was crossing the only open spot when a flash of metal caught his eyes. Turning on reflex he drew his broadswords, only to pause as someone else stepped out of the shadows and he frowned once he recognized them.

"Mai."

"I won't be here when you return," Mai told him as she stopped several feet from him. Zuko straightened as he replaced the broadswords, but didn't say anything. "If you leave Zuko, I won't come back."

"I'm sorry Mai," Zuko whispered, staring at his betrothed.

"Me too Zuko," Mai said, wrapping her arms around her waist. "Good luck."

Zuko opened his mouth to say something before closing it as he turned away from Mai. An apology wouldn't make up for ignoring the past six years she had spent with him here helping building the kingdom his father nearly destroyed, so he wouldn't give one. Before he lost sight of her, he glanced back to see she had already disappeared and he gave a soft sigh as he slipped into the capital.

sSs

Chief Arnook, who Zuko had met once before, was busy flipping through paperwork spread out before him on a wooden table when Zuko entered the throne room of the Northern Water Tribe. However, he glanced up as Zuko stopped next to the table with Captain Fa only to blink in surprise before frowning.

"I thought they said you were a messenger," he rumbled as he straightened up, crossing his arms as he looked at Zuko.

"I saw the scroll, Chief Arnook. Fire Lord Zuko sent him," Captain Fa said as he joined them and Arnook snorted as he waved a hand at Zuko.

"That _is_ Fire Lord Zuko, Captain Fa," Arnook said and Zuko nodded as Fa stared at him in surprise.

"My apologies, Captain," Zuko said, nodding his head at the captain as he removed the medallion from his neck. "I was trying to keep a low profile while traveling through the Earth Nation."

"Of course," Fa murmured as he returned the medallion and glanced at Zuko before nodding to Arnook. "Arnie, if you need me I'll be unloading my ship."

Zuko couldn't stop the look of surprise off his face as Fa left the throne room with Chief Arnook scowling after him.

"Friends always come up with the most annoying nicknames," Arnook muttered and Zuko nodded in sympathy, thinking of his own nicknames he was still called. Sokka still called him 'Jerkbender' to this day in an attempt to keep Zuko rooted or so he said. "So, tell me reason for this secret visit, Zuko."

"Katara has been missing since she left your tribe," Zuko said and Arnook frowned at him before motioning one of the guards over. Zuko frowned as he asked for Fa to be stopped and return to the throne room and the guard nodded before leaving the throne room. "Chief Arnook?"

"It was Captain Fa's ship that Katara boarded when she left," Arnook explained. "I accompanied her myself even though she was rushed. She hasn't been seen since?"

"No," Zuko said, sighing. "Her brother contacted me after there had been no contact for a month, weeks after she was expected to meet up with the Avatar in the Earth Nation."

"We heard of the uprising there," Arnook murmured as Fa re-entered the room. "Katara asked us to lend support to the problem but with winter arriving we don't have enough men to spare. I redirected the few we have in the other nations to lend assistance if they could reach the area, but that is all I can do for now.

"Captain Fa, do you remember Lady Katara?" Arnook asked once Fa had joined them again.

"Of course. She was with me on the trip to Chengdu then separated from us there," Fa replied. "From what I gathered she left the city soon after we arrived, before we returned here last month. Did something happen?"

"She seems to have disappeared," Arnook said with a sigh. "Chengdu is northwest of Ba Sing Se. I wonder if she headed there before continuing to meet up with the Avatar."

"I told her not to take that route," Fa said shaking his head and Zuko frowned.

"Why?"

"It's all mountains until you reach the valley outside Ba Sing Se," Fa explained. "They collect snow earlier in the year than most places and hard to travel through, even for a master waterbender such as Lady Katara."

"Do you think she headed elsewhere?" Zuko asked, trying to think what else was in that area. "The closest place would be the Northern Air Temple, but I can't see her heading there."

"She may have boarded another boat to take her along the coast to Ba Sing Se," Fa suggested before looking at Zuko. "It will take my men a day to unload my ship, Fire Lord Zuko, but once we are able I can take you to Chengdu."

"Will you be able to return here before the water freezes?" Zuko asked. He needed to go to Chengdu, but he didn't want to isolate Fa from his home.

"I will take some of our waterbenders with us," Fa explained as he tugged on his ear while thinking. "It will make it possible for us to return before the storms begin. I'll go supervise my men and contact you here when I know we will be able to leave port."

"Thank you for everything," Zuko said and Fa nodded before leaving Zuko and Arnook alone again. "Do you know why Katara would suddenly change ships?"

"I believe she received a message a few days before departing from a messenger hawk," Arnook remembered before shrugging. "She didn't mention what it contained, but I figured since she changed ships it was rather important.

"Go get some rest, Zuko, you look tired. I will make sure Fa's message reaches you."

sSs

Glancing up at the darkening skies, Zuko ducked into one last shop, staring around the oddly gathered items. It was a pawn shop from the looks of it and he unwillingly remembered the pirates that nearly took his life six years ago as he stared around the amassed collection of junk. This one looked more legal and he slowly browsed through the shop as he waited for the curator to appear.

He was glancing at some pearls for Toph before looking further down the case until a strip of blue cloth caught his attention. Curious he took a step closer only to freeze in surprise. He stared down at the worn, carved stone attached to blue cloth by a golden clasp, the same one he had held onto as if his life depended on it after he had found it on the destroyed Earth Nation prison.

"It is an interesting piece, is it not?" Startled, Zuko turned quickly to see an old, hunched over man staring up at him under large bushy eyebrows. Eyes that had once been green were faded, but still sharp as they looked up the foot separating the two before returning to the case with a short nod. "Not worth much as it is a common stone, but I was told it comes from the Water Tribe. They are a people that keep their items close to them I have heard."

"Why take something so worthless then?" Zuko asked slowly, almost unable to tear his gaze from Katara's necklace. She would never trade her only connection to her mother, never.

"It was only an item among several. I figured with all the other items they traded it was worth taking as well, simply because of its origin," the man explained casually before frowning. "All of the items were rather common place, but of high quality. The only other odd item was a golden Pai Sho piece."

"A Pai Sho piece?" Zuko asked, feeling panic run through him, knowing there was only one other item Katara would keep on her before her mother's. "Can I see it? Please."

"Of course," the man said and Zuko followed him over to a counter. He pulled out a large metal box and producing a key from within a sleeve unlocked it. Opening the box he pulled out the Pai Sho piece and handed it to Zuko. It was identical to the one he had tucked snugly in his own clothing and he couldn't stop the dread racing through him. He was the one who had ordered the pieces to be made after the war and it was one of several hundred scattered throughout the world. Katara would have never gotten rid of the piece as it could have gotten her help just about anywhere.

"Interesting that it is made of gold. Wood is the most common for Pai Sho pieces," Zuko commented casually as he sat the piece down on the counter.

"The seller said it had belonged to a set that had been taken during the war," the man explained and Zuko frowned. "I didn't trust him about that, but I bought the piece off of him because of the craftsmanship. It is one of a kind."

"Right," Zuko said slowly.

sSs

The next time she woke up her vision was clear and her body didn't have the same feeling of heaviness that it did the last time. It still took her a few minutes to remember what happened before shifting to look over at the empty bed. Closing her eyes, she buried deeper into the bed, relishing the weight of the blankets before opening her eyes when she heard movement across the room. Looking up, she watched as Zuko walked in to throw some more logs on the fire before turning to find her watching him.

"Hi," he said before moving to sit on the bed. Katara blinked as he reached over and covered her forehead briefly before smiling down at her. "Your temperature is high but dropping, which is good."

Katara just blinked up at him and he frowned at her in confusion.

"Katara?"

"Please say you're real," she whispered hoarsely to him, feeling tears form in her eyes again. She didn't think she could handle it if this was all a hallucination caused by the drug.

"I'm real," Zuko reassured her softly before he glanced behind him. "Do you want something to drink? I have water or tea."

"Water, please," she whispered and Zuko stood up and walked away. Katara closed her eyes again as the tears continued to fall, not even trying to wipe them away. She jumped when a hand softly touched her shoulder and opened to her eyes, realizing she had started to drift off to sleep again. Zuko helped her sit up before helping her drink the cup of water he held.

It would have been sad, she realized, except she didn't think she had the strength to even lift the cup to her lips.

"Are you hungry at all?" Zuko asked once she finished drinking the water. She shook her head and relaxed against him, welcoming the feeling of being safe and protected. She protested when Zuko shifted behind her but was asleep by the time she was placed back onto the bed and covered by the blankets.

sSs

"I might have finally found her, Zuko," she told him softly and Zuko frowned at her confused.

"Who?"

"Your mother."

"What?" Zuko asked, wondering if his mind was playing a trick on what Katara just said. He stared across the table at her, trying to figure out if he should be excited or brace for disappoint in case he did misunderstand.

"Your mother, Zuko," Katara repeated, a small smile forming on her lips as she straightened again. "While traveling I've been asking people if they might have ever seen anyone resembling your mother around the time she disappeared. I never mentioned who she was, just that I was trying to track her down for her family."

"I…" He couldn't even form a coherent sentence, still not quite believing what he heard. He had tried that first year after the war to find his mother, sending out several messengers to scour everywhere. When they continued to report back negatively he had finally given up, figuring Ozai had found yet another way to torment him, even locked up in prison.

"When I was in the North Pole a message arrived from Ba Sing Se," Katara explained, acknowledging his attitude. "A man and his wife had been living in Chengdu around the time of Ursa's banishment. He wrote, saying a female from the Fire Nation in her late twenties had come into his shop to purchase some items and that she was well spoken and well dressed, even if they had seen better days. He also mentioned of a village rumored to be in the middle of the Daiyu Mountains and that the clothing she purchased was made for harsher climates."

"The White Lotus members in Chengdu mentioned that might have been your target," Zuko commented before he looked at her, curious. "Why didn't you write that you might have found her?"

Katara looked at him before glancing away, her cheeks starting to pinken. In that instant Zuko wanted nothing more than to kiss her, something he had been able to resist since she had woken up. The week it had taken her to recover from her illness he hadn't been able to do anything but sit and wait for her to wake up. Then once her fever broke she still drifted in and out of consciousness until four days ago, still sleeping for large periods of time.

Today had been the most normal, if he ignored the fact he had spilt tea on her that morning when she had mentioned a bath and he had thought of her completely naked. He had quickly doused his arousal by going out and soaking himself in the thigh high snow to feed the buffalo-yak, bringing to life the cold he had been fighting for over a week.

She wouldn't meet his gaze and Zuko realized painfully she could never seem to hold his gaze anymore. Before now she had never been shy about meeting his gaze, even those months he had been chasing her and Aang around the world and he wondered if his actions had destroyed their friendship.

"I wanted to make sure," Katara said softly before looking at Zuko. "I knew how much the last search affected you when you couldn't find her and I didn't want you to go through that again."

"Why?" He had a thousand questions floating through his mind, yet that was the one that escaped.

"Because Zuko," Katara said softly, turning to look at the fire, "I'm your friend. I don't want to see you hurt."

_What if I don't want you as a friend?_ Zuko thought sullenly, staring down at the table.

sSs

"Katara!" She was sobbing when Zuko found her lying on the snow, not caring she was soaking wet. He knelt next to her before pulling her upright, but she simply curled back into a ball, covering her head with her arms. "What happened? Why are you bleeding?"

"They took it," she gasped, her tears slowly freezing on her cheeks. "They took it."

"Took what?" Zuko asked panicked, grabbing her arms and removing them so he could look at her bloodied hand. He quickly applied pressure, causing Katara to gasp as pain shot through her hand and up her arm, only adding to pain left over from her attempts to bend. "Katara, what happened?"

"They took my bending," she told him, staring up at him. The tears made him blurry but she could still see his good eye widen in surprise. "I can't waterbend anymore."

sSs

Hope you enjoyed it and that it whetted your appetite!

Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and its creators. I just play in it.


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